Published: February 4, 2012

The N.F.L. Players Mentioned Most on “SportsCenter”

Below, some of the most mentioned players and coaches this season. Each player’s height is scaled according to the number of times he was mentioned on “SportsCenter” or “Sunday N.F.L. Countdown.”

Published Feb. 04, 2012

The N.F.L. Players Mentioned Most on “SportsCenter”

Below, some of the most mentioned players and coaches this season. Each player’s height is scaled according to the number of times he was mentioned on “SportsCenter” or “Sunday N.F.L.
Countdown.”

Bill Belichick

The anchors were mostly reverent when describing the Patriots’ coach,mentioning his secrecy, calling him “tremendous” and a “mastermind.”

Ndamukong Suh

The most mentioned defensive player, Suh made the list mostly because of his two-game suspension for stamping on an opponent’s arm during Detroit’s game against the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 24.

Kyle Orton

In November, Orton went to Kansas City after losing a quarterback battle to Tim Tebow, leading to talk of a potential matchup between the former teammates. He and Tebow did face off in Denver on Jan. 1 —
and that time, Orton won.

Peyton Manning

Despite going the entire season without taking a snap, Manning was discussed more than most of the league’s active players — even more than his younger brother, Eli, who led the Giants to Sunday’s
Super Bowl.

Tim Tebow

On “SportsCenter,” there was Tebow and then there was everyone else. After the Broncos’ sixth consecutive win, he was mentioned more than 40 times in the next morning’s edition of
the show.

Transcripts were collected from the 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. editions of “SportsCenter” from Aug. 1, 2011, to Feb. 1, 2012, including the weekly broadcast of “Sunday N.F.L. Countdown” on
Sundays. In some cases, a later airing was used to avoid conflicts with “College Gameday” on Saturdays. Closed-captioning transcripts for a small number of dates were not available.